Only lying about an hour North of Otterton, one of the places that the Devon beavers have started to call home, Exmoor national park authorities have reintroduced a few beavers-translocated from the population in Scotland. Having already created a dam and a wonderful instant wetland, it would appear that they are feeling right at home.
Continue reading “And another beaver reintroduction in the UK-this time Exmoor national park”Can hunting ever be ethical? How can it work?
There are many sports Hunters around the world. A significant portion of them live in the States and western Europe-it is generally a rich man’s (and woman) game.
There are certainly parts of the world for which hunting is a sensible use of the land. However this is not true across the vast majority.
Continue reading “Can hunting ever be ethical? How can it work?”An alarming model suggests we have already passed the tipping point on global warming, now what?
A model has as suggested that the future of our planet is a warming place regardless of what we do with our emissions.
Continue reading “An alarming model suggests we have already passed the tipping point on global warming, now what?”So the paper and pulp industry of Indonesia is cheating their government too: what a surprise
It has come to light that two of the biggest paper pulp companies TPL and APRIL have been intentionally mislabeling their export materials.Paper grade pulp which they claimed to be exporting is used to make paper and packaging. However dissolving pulp, which they were actually exporting is far more valuable.
As such they have cheated the Indonesian government out of more than 168 million dollars of tax. Will this have any impact on the vigor that the Indonesian government will defend their horrific environmental record?
Continue reading “So the paper and pulp industry of Indonesia is cheating their government too: what a surprise”Landscape of fear
I have spoken in the past about the ecosystem impact that wolves can have, creating what is called a landscape of fear.
The threat of being hunted means that prey change their behaviour far more more than simply the effect of direct predation.
A few weeks ago the British newspaper the guardian, wrote on this subject. I include a link below.
This is a highly important Ecological concept. It has started to be recognized around the world, and many countries have been reintroducing predators to reserves, from which they were eliminated, sometimes centuries ago. This work is essential, and from Yellowstone and the return of the wolves to reserves across Africa and Asia the same is seen.
When will the government recognize this fact of nature, and do something similar in the UK?
World fossil fuel production must follow by 6% year to meet 1.5°C, yet is growing by 2% a year
Coronavirus recovery money has been spent twice as fast on fossil fuel projects as it has on environmentally friendly and carbon free electricity production.
Continue reading “World fossil fuel production must follow by 6% year to meet 1.5°C, yet is growing by 2% a year”Urgent news update – Indonesia deforestation
The Indonesian government has decided to change the designation of large parts of the country from protected forest to available for food production.
Continue reading “Urgent news update – Indonesia deforestation”Trump trying to destroy the Arctic wildlife refuge before he loses power
Trump is going to kick start the process of selling rights to drill oil in the arctic refuge on the 6th of January.
Whats more, in the lame-duck session, he is desperately keen to get this process so far along, that it is impossible for Biden to undo this stupid move that is totally anti-democratic.
Continue reading “Trump trying to destroy the Arctic wildlife refuge before he loses power”Donald Trump’s wall will cause the extinction of the American jaguar
I have written about this in the past, but this last week there was an article in the guardian newspaper. In it it talks about this region of Arizona, and it’s “sky Islands” upper reaches of mountains that are left undisturbed, allowing wildlife to thrive.
This is a fascinating region of the world, as it is the only natural place where grizzlies and wolves from North America, meet with ocelots and jaguars-more commonly seen in the dense rainforest of the Amazon.
If all of trump’s contracts for wall building are completed, they will cut off 93% of the jaguars territory.
This cannot be completed by hand over, however pressure is being me to make as much progress as possible. The wall all is currently being put up at about a mile a day.
It should also be noted that in many places the wall passes through areas specifically set aside as wildlife refuges.
It is insane, in a so-called democracy, that Trump has been able to do this despite Congress blocking appropriations for its building.
A number of American groups have been working hard to recover the ecological niche that the sky Islands give, but all of this will be ruined.
It should be noted that this wall of Trump’s breaks more than 30 laws.these include the endangered species act and the national environmental protection plan.However because Trump is behind it these have been waived to allow the building to take place.
While the wall is made of slats,and the ocelots may well be able to continue to cross between the two countries, the majority of wildlife will not and therefore both fragmented populations will become far more liable to localised extinction.
We can only hope that once Joe Biden has taken office, he reverses some of these perverse and stupid decisions. Apart from anything, given the ease that has been demonstrated about how easy it is to get through or over this barrier, the only thing the barrier is going to do is to destroy this ecosystem. It is perhaps fitting that one of the last moves of Donald Trump as president will be something pointless, unlikely necessary for his successor to undo.
Big cats moving between reserves
In the West, the idea of living alongside lion or leopard might be terrifying, but for many people in parts of Africa and Asia it’s just a way of life.
In many parts of India, the tiger reserves are far too small. If the tigers would just stay in their own reserves, without human intervention the population will fall rapidly as a lack of genetic variability I will leave the population incapable fighting off illness.
Continue reading “Big cats moving between reserves”